[Noel Johnson]

Hi all,

Those of you who were shore diving on Saturday will no doubt have seen the plated wing that I've built up. Now I have a couple of Q's as I've only used it about 10 times.

1. Is it supposed to feel as if it's trying to pull you over backward whilst out of the water? In the water its fine. The ususal config is 15+pony and a shot weight lead harness (7Kg)

2. Are crotch and chest straps really that important? it seems fine without them done up.

3. On my old BC the shoulder straps kept their shape making it easy to don and remove with the help of a buddy. The shoulder straps on the harness are a little floppy and seem to go everywhere except over my shoulders whilst donning it. Is there any way I can stiffen them up?

4. How do you tether the low pressure inflator to the harness? There is no velcro strap (as per conventional BCD) and it falls behind my left shoulder whilst kitting up.

5. What the hell are you supposed to clip on to the ring at the back of the harness by my arse?

I'm sorry if these are daft questions but I've just moved from a techy BCD to a wing after 100+ dives with it as I want to do my IANTD advanced nitrox next year and get a twin set for greater redundancy (which will be better for the adv course) and I'm feeling a little disenchanted with the system. Although I'm sure it'll get better the more I use it.

Cheers all and dive safe,

Noel.